India’s top court rejects government stand that same-sex marriage is elitist

New Delhi, Apr 19 (EFE).- Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday insisted that the Indian government lacked data for its claim hat the petitions to legalize same-sex marriage in the country were “elitist and urban,” after the state counsel made the argument opposing gay matrimony.

“Urban perhaps because more people are coming out of the closet. Government does not have any data also to show that same sex marriage is an urban elitist concept,” Chandrachud said during the second day of a supreme court hearing to decide if same-sex unions can be legalized.

The Indian government has opposed same-sex marriages and although it has not taken the stand in the court yet, on Sunday it made a written submission to the judicial body arguing that the petitions to allow this type of matrimony were based on “urban elitist views for the purpose of social acceptance.”

The Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta on Tuesday reiterated the government’s stand that the legality of same-sex marriages should be decided by the parliament instead of judiciary.

The supreme court has the task of examining several petitions from same-sex couples seeking the legalization of their marriages.

The petitions come five years after the court struck down a 150-year-old law from India’s colonial past under British rule that punished “unnatural offences” (gay sex) and criminalized same-sex relationships with jail sentences.

One of the petitioner’s lawyers, Mukul Rohatgi, on Wednesday urged the court of to get rid of the “colonial mentality” that persists in the country years after having revoked the colonial law that criminalized homosexuality.

The top court is yet to decide a date for the judgement, and both parties in the trail are still in the process of presenting their arguments.

The petitions reached the supreme court after going through several lower courts and have sparked much anticipation and media attention in India. EFE

daa/ia